SHIRI APPLEBY/MAJANDRA DELFINO - SEVENTEEN, MARCH 2001

PASSION PLAYERS

Roswell's Shiri Appleby and Majandra Delfino, friends on and off the set, put their downtime to good use, by Holly Richmond.

You know them best as Liz Parker and Maria DeLuca, the two earthbound students/diner waitresses on the alien-invaded WB drama Roswell.  But in real life, Shiri Appleby, 22, and Majandra Delfino, 20, are - surprise! - as close as they appear each week on the small screen.  Recently, seventeen challenged both girls to reveal a side of themselves to the other (and to us) that may not have surfaced during those long days of filming the sci-fi series, which is now in its second season.  The girl don't have to think for long: Delfino, an aspiring singer who spends her Sundays at a recording studio in Whittier, California, invites Appleby to come along.  Meanwhile, Appleby, an ardent volunteer for many social causes, takes the opportunity to read to children at a local library.

On one of their rare days off, the stars have a tough time getting out of bed and driving the 15 miles from Los Angeles to Whittier - it's even harder for Appleby since she was up till 4.30am, celebrating her birthday.  But once the two scarf down a seriously un-PC breakfast of chocolate cake, tortilla chips and soda, they're reading to roll.

Appleby's good reads

It's far from a sleepy Sunday at the Whittier Public Library.  Word is out that California native Shiri Appleby has stopped in to read to some of the local school-age children.  But as the seven kids form a semicircle at Appleby's feet, they seem unaware that they're a celebrity in their midst.  This group is just happy to have someone as animated, vivacious and pretty as Appleby read to them.

Delfino looks on as Appleby tears into the first book, The Enormous Potato, about a farmer who relies on teamwork to get a big job done.  As she reads, the actress adopts dozens of silly voices.  Appleby asks her Roswell costar to join in.  "No thanks," says Delfino.  "I like it when you read."

Why would a successful TV star choose to spend a weekend morning with a bunch of schoolkids?  "I love to volunteer with children.  They get enjoyment out of seeing me, and I make them feel good," Appleby says.  However, she's not attached to one particular charity: she has, in the past, crocheted caps for young cancer patients.  Not too long ago, she also participated in a Los Angeles-based program called Young Storytellers, in which volunteers help elementary schoolkids write their first screenplays.

After signing a few autographs for the children's parents, Appleby and Delfino head outside.  "I had a good time," Delfino says.  Appleby agrees: "It's fun to be with kids that age.  Their ideas come out of nowhere, and everything's so exciting for them."  We bet this isn't the last time these kids will hear from Shiri Appleby.

Delfino's sound studio

Majandra Delfino seems as at home in the recording studio as she is on the Roswell set.  The actress, who played guitar and wrote songs while growing up in Florida, just put the finishing touches on her first demo album, which is available on her web site.  As if she were performing a private concert for Appleby, Delfino strums away and quietly sings one of her own tunes.  Her style, which is somewhere between Portishead and Air, is difficult to categorize.  "Lyrically, it's very personal," observes one of Delfino's record producers, Anthony Rodriguez.  "Majandra has no reservations about exposing every aspect of herself."

Over lunch (grilled cheese and an ice cream sundae for Delfino; a tuna melt for Appleby), talk turns to guys.  It's rumoured that Delfino is dating her Roswell costar Brendan Fehr, and we think we may have found out why: "I'm obsessed with Harry Potter," she confesses.  "If a boy reminds me of Harry, I'll like him just for that reason.  I'm crazy."  But when asked about her ideal prom date, Delfino blurts out, "John Lennon, baby!"  Appleby, on the other hand, mulls over the question before responding indirectly.  "I've been a 'girlfriend' for a long time, and now I'm just enjoying not being one.  I never thought I'd say that, but it's nice to go out and interact with people.  I'm feeling like a free spirit."

The girls seem united in their free spiritedness.  They get along so well, we're surprised when they admit they didn't speak for four months during Roswell's first season.  "We weren't really in a fight," says Appleby.  "We were just dealing with a lot of stress.  Rumours were flying and feelings were getting hurt.  For a while it was awful to come to work," she adds.  "Majandra was my friend, and we weren't speaking."

Delfino says there was a lot of attention focused on Appleby during that first season and some people were not happy about it.  "It's bizarre to me, because I believe every dog has his day," she says.  Eventually Delfino broke the ice by calling Appleby and laying her cards on the table.  "We talked for more than two hours," Appleby recalls.  "I had been scared to deal with the whole situation.  Thank God Majandra called me, because I was really hurt and didn't want to call her and be rejected."

"It took us a while to trust each other again and rebuild our friendship, but now we're good," Delfino says.  When the girls are ready to head out, Delfino pauses for a moment to observe the empty Studio.  "It was fun showing Shiri my other life," she says.  "I think when I tell her that I come to Whittier every Sunday, she thinks I'm really off in the Carribean."

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